Finance

It initially launched in 1996 to explore fuel-cell technology but changed direction and, in 2004, landed a potentially lucrative contract with ExxonMobile Research and Engineering Co. to develop large purification and recovery systems for oil-refining and petrochemical markets. Exxon provided...

What I never expected to find was that one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces, literally dripping in natural abundance, home to one of its leading cities and blessed with a natural bridge to the rest of the world, would be the...

The really zealous ones will quote the media and echo something to the effect that “controlled inflation” and “modest interest rates” are “driving forces behind our robust economy.” Inevitably, someone will allude to the proliferation of towering cranes that are...

Has the bull market run its course? Does the recent tax legislation mean it’s time to dump income trusts? Investors enter this RRSP season with more than the usual dose of nerves as they ponder their investment options. For advice, BCBusiness met with two experts who spend their days making...

If someone suggested that you should invest in a business based on the production of spider-silk proteins by transgenic goats, you might feel that they were weaving a bit of a tangled web themselves. In fact, such a company did exist.

But not to fear. Here in B.C., at least, rumours of the death of the long-running bull are greatly exaggerated. Far from a decline in GDP, economists are predicting continued boom times in 2007, with economic growth continuing unabated. Canada is now a country with two economies. Central Canada, with...

The contrast couldn’t be more telling. In Calgary, energy giant EnCana plans to build a spectacular $1-billion, 59-storey office tower headquarters that will be the second highest in Canada. That’s assuming Imperial Oil, not yet out of the starting gate...

The B.C. economy is riding high today, with oil, gas, mining and forestry companies pouring out product like there’s no tomorrow – not to mention raking in billions. Evidence of the boom is everywhere: labour shortages, new residents flowing here...

Once upon a time, the standard business process was to build a private business and when it reached a certain size, take it public on the stock market. If you performed well, your company thrived. Now hungry predator funds are sizing up B.C. businesses.

In the 1990s, Gail Winkelmann became co-owner of a commercial and residential garbage disposal business in Surrey. The client list, which included construction companies, grew steadily during the first two years, generating enough work to lease five trucks and hire...